An Innovative Concept

Most people don’t like to think or talk about death. As individuals, we hope help will be there when we are no longer able to care for ourselves, and we dread becoming a burden to our families. As caregivers, we fear we will not be able to meet the complex needs of a dying person, and we don’t know where to turn to ask for help.

It is emotionally and physically exhausting.

The need for hospice support is one of today’s enduring healthcare challenges, especially in the City of Toronto. There are currently only 20 beds to serve a population of more than 2.8 million people. Patients today end up in the hospital rather than receive care at home or in a residential hospice as they would prefer. Families bear the brunt of the strain.

In Canada, the informal contribution of family members accounts for more than 80 per cent of the care dying people receive, and they save the healthcare system $31 billion a year.

In a situation like this, you’d think hospice and end of life care programs would be popping up everywhere, and that support for informal caretakers would be entrenched in the system as a top priority moving forward.

Yet formal, integrated programming for end of life care is lacking in Toronto communities, and chronic, troubling shortages of residential hospice beds persist.

The Toronto Commandery Hospice will have transformative impacts for patients, families, and Toronto’s collective future.

Toronto is experiencing a crisis this campaign can address

Most jurisdictions in Canada recommend a future goal of 6 - 7 end of life care beds for every 100,000 people. Toronto is already in a crisis, and as our city grows, the problem will only become more acute.

The Toronto Commandery Hospice provides a unique opportunity for Torontonians to begin addressing this problem.

Impacts will be felt throughout the system and beyond, as the Toronto Commandery Hospice functions not only as a catalyst in addressing critical needs in Toronto, but as a Centre of Excellence advancing innovation in hospice care more broadly.